The present invention relates to a housing through which multiple lines are routed from a source to multiple destinations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a line routing device in the housing that minimizes line tangling and otherwise routes the lines in an orderly manner.
In many distribution-type applications, a relatively large plurality of lines originate from a common source, extend for some distance, and then at some point branch out to a plurality of destinations. For example, in a typical land-line telephone distribution network, a plurality of lines for a particular neighborhood or district originate at a central office or the like, travel together to a branching station in the neighborhood or district, and then branch out at the branching station to a plurality of telephone subscribers in such neighborhood or district. Each such line may be a twisted pair of copper wires, a coaxial cable, an individual optical fiber, etc. Additionally, each such line may be dedicated to a particular subscriber, dedicated to a plurality of subscribers, dynamically assigned to any of a plurality of subscribers, dynamically shared by a plurality of subscribers, etc.
The type of branching station employed may vary depending upon the type of line and the type of neighborhood or district. For example, for twisted-pair wires destined for a relatively sparsely populated residential area, the branching station may be a relatively small all-weather box or housing mounted to the side of a structure such as a telephone pole. For optic fibers and/or coaxial cables destined for a relatively large sub-division or office park, however, the branching station may be a much larger above- or below-ground vault or housing, on the order of six feet in width, 30 feet in length, and 12 feet in height.
A line arriving at a housing of a branching station from the central office may pass through such housing and on to an ultimate destination without a break therein. More typically, however, such line physically terminates at a point within the housing and is then routed toward an ultimate destination from such point by way of a physically separate but connected line portion. Accordingly, a line may in fact comprise a plurality of serially linked line portions, and a technician or the like may create or re-direct lines by combining, separating, and/or re-combining line portions at the point in the housing of the branching station.
Moreover, the branching station may include signal conditioning equipment for conditioning the signal on a line, signal adding equipment for adding a signal from another source, signal filtering equipment, and the like. For example, a particular line as instantiated by a plurality of line portions may arrive at a branching station from a central office of a telephone network, may pass through a line filter and/or conditioner, may then pass through a video signal adder, may then pass through another filter and/or conditioner, and then may depart the branching station for an ultimate destination. Accordingly, such particular line passes through several points in the housing of the branching station, and such technician may create or re-direct lines by combining, separating, and/or re-combining line portions at each point in the branching station.
In addition or in the alternative, the branching station may include demodulation equipment for demodulating one or more signals from the signal on the line. In such instance, the line continues from the branching station in the form of one or more demodulated lines, each of which has a demodulated signal from the line signal. Here, a technician may create or re-direct demodulated lines by combining, separating, and/or re-combining demodulated line portions at the branching station.
In one typical situation, a plurality of lines within a branching station travel from a first generally common point within the housing of the branching station to a plurality of second generally non-common points within the housing. For example, sixteen lines may travel from a circuit card in a first bay in the branching station to any of 256 circuit cards in a second bay in the branching station. In such a situation, the sixteen lines are typically physically bundled together at a position adjacent the first bay, and are then unbundled at a position adjacent the second bay to allow each unbundled line to extend to any of the 256 circuit cards in the second bay.
Considering that the unbundled portion of each of the sixteen lines can be quite long (fifteen feet, e.g.) in order to reach any of the circuit cards in the second bay, and considering that a plurality of such sixteen-line bundles (sixteen, e.g.) are likely traveling from the first bay to the second bay, it quickly becomes apparent that there may be many long, unbundled lines in the region of the second bay, and such long, unbundled lines can quickly become tangled and otherwise disordered.
To combat such tangling and disorder, a convention has been developed for the case of a single second bay. In such convention, each bundle has a breakout point at which each line thereof breaks out from the bundle, the single second bay has a generally vertical down-channel to the left, the breakout point of each bundle is secured at or adjacent the top of the down-channel, and each line from each bundle extends from the breakout point thereof down the down-channel.
Each line in the down-channel has a length such that the line can hang substantially to the bottom of the down-channel, assuming of course, the end of such line is not coupled to a circuit card or the like in the single second bay. Notably, a down-channel may be fifteen feet or longer in vertical length, and each line hanging in such down-channel is therefore a corresponding length. Thus, a hanging line can be taken up and attached to any circuit card or the like in any shelf, rack, etc. to the right in the single second bay.
It is to be understood that particularly in the case of a fiber optic line, such line cannot be bent beyond a minimum radius of curvature without affecting the transmission of light in such line. To prevent bending beyond such minimum radius, then, and to otherwise provide some order within the down-channel, such down-channel includes a number of spools around which any line in such down-channel may be routed. As should now be evident, each such spool has a minimum radius larger than the aforementioned minimum radius of the line, whereby any line may be routed around a spool without affecting the transmission of light in such line. Thus, a hanging line may be taken up, routed around one or more spools in an orderly manner, and may then be routed up and/or to the right to a destination (i.e., the circuit card or the like) for attachment in the single second bay.
While the aforementioned convention works well in the case of a single second bay, certain issues arise in the instance where second and third bays aside each other (i.e., a pair of side-by-side second bays) are employed in the housing of the branching station. As may be appreciated, such second and third bays may be necessary when a single second bay does not have enough space for all of the circuit cards, racks, etc. normally housed in such single second bay.
As before, each of the second and third bays has a generally vertical down-channel to the left, each bundle has a breakout point at which each line thereof breaks out from the bundle, and the breakout points of all the bundles originating from the first bay are secured in the same general location. However, each line in each bundle must now be able to be extended and attached to any circuit card, rack, etc. in either the second bay or the third bay in an orderly manner. Correspondingly, each line from any bundle must have a length, and the breakout points of all the bundles must be appropriately positioned, such that each line can hang substantially to the bottom of either down-channel, assuming of course, the end of such line is not coupled to a circuit card or the like in either the second bay or the third bay. Moreover, each line, if initially extending into one of the second or third bays by way of the down-channel thereof, must be movable to extend into the other of the second or third bays by way of the down-channel thereof without undue difficulty and in an orderly manner, and also without tangling and other disorder.
One simple solution would seem to be to secure each breakout point at a location generally above the second bay and equidistant between the (left-side) down-channels of the second and third bays. However, such a solution is not always available, especially if there is not enough room at such location to accommodate the lines, as is often the case, or if accommodating such lines at such location would cause the lines to bend excessively, as is also often the case. Moreover, even if there is enough room at such location to accommodate the lines and the lines would not bend excessively, there is likely not enough room to include structures for routing and managing the lines at such location so as to combat tangling and dis-order.
Another simple solution would seem to be to employ a common down-channel between the second and third bays for the lines. However, such a solution is not available due to the convention that the down-channel at issue for each bay is provided to the left of such bay. In addition, such a solution is not available due to another convention that a separate down-channel for each bay is provided to the right of such bay for other purposes not especially relevant here. As may be appreciated, any common down-channel for the lines would hopelessly interfere with the right-side separate down-channel for the bay on the left.
Accordingly, a need exists for a device to route lines in the housing as between the second and third bays, where the device helps to minimize line tangling and otherwise routes the lines in an orderly manner, and where the device allows a line from any bundle with proper length to hang substantially to the bottom of either down-channel, assuming of course, the end of such line is not coupled to a circuit card or the like in either the second bay or the third bay.
In the present invention, a housing has second and third bays, where each bay receives equipment therein. The housing also has a plurality of lines traveling therein from a site such as a first bay to the second bay and the third bay. A line routing device is positioned generally above the second and third bays and routes the lines from the site to the second and third bays. Each line is secured at a generally common securing point above the second and third bays, and each of the second and third bays has a generally vertical down-channel at one side thereof. Each line extends from the securing point, through the line routing device, and down one of the down-channels such that the line when positioned to hang in either down-channel hangs substantially the same length within such down-channel.